Claude Cormier

Claude Cormier (born June 22, 1960) is a landscape architect from Quebec. He is one of the most influential members of his profession in Canada, with the majority of his projects located in Montreal and Toronto.

Claude Cormier’s origins have played a significant role in determining his unusual professional trajectory. During his childhood growing up on a farm in rural Quebec, "nature" was a quotidian reality to be dealt with, not the idealised, bucolic or romantic idea held dear by many city-dwellers hold dear. In his eyes, nature was a resource, not an experience of the sublime, and in no way did this nature represent for him a place of escape.

As a young adult, Cormier decided to study agronomy at the University of Guelph, in Ontario, where his goal was to develop a new flower through genetic crossing. With bachelor's degree in hand, he realized that he was not so interested in plant genetics, but rather in how to make nature more playful. His studies in science, which focused on the possibilities of inventing new forms, would prove useful later in his career when he would apply his knowledge of interbreeding and hybridization to the urban landscape. Cormier studied landscape architecture at the University of Toronto, and after earning a new diploma, spent some time working for landscape architecture firms such as Gerrard & Mackars. He then decided to return to Quebec and settle in Montreal, where he worked for Groupe Lestage, an architecture and urban design firm that, by hiring him, expanded its practice by offering landscape architecture services.

At age 33, circumstances led Cormier to Harvard University, where he completed a master's degree in Design Studies - History & Theory. He was drawn to Harvard specifically by Martha Schwartz, a long-time mentor and a leading figure in the world of landscape architecture. During his time at Harvard, he worked a Schwartz’s office, where he had the opportunity to explore and refine ideas and concepts that he had been contemplating for some time, and which would soon become manifest in his own work. After Harvard, Cormier returned to Montreal in 1995 to open his own firm: Claude Cormier Architectes Paysagistes Inc.

Claude Cormier belongs to the second generation of landscape architects known as the conceptualists, a movement initiated principally by Martha Schwartz. As with postmodern architecture and conceptual art, this approach prioritizes the concept, or "big idea" as the driving force behind a project. This concept is applied across scales to articulate even the smallest aspects of the project, throughout the design process from beginning to end. Notably, this conceptualist approach marks a radical departure from functionalism as part of the modernist movement.

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